This is our last week of our Rainbow Chard for the summer! To properly bid it farewell we have a delicious, quick prep recipe that can be preserved for those days that you’re missing your dear old friend.

Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the bottom of a large pot. Once oil is heated add diced onions and chard. Sauté with a bit of salt and black pepper for 3 minutes.

Add lentils to the pot with a dash more olive oil. Stir lentils until most are lightly browned.

Add broth, water and tomatoes and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook at a low simmer until the lentils are tender, approximately 35 to 40 minutes.

Once lentils are tender add masala spice, salt and pepper to taste. Stir thoroughly and serve!

This soup can be frozen and reheated for up to a month and still taste as great as the day you cooked it!

FOOD FACT: Chard is considered a super food, meaning it’s chalked full of vitamins, including C, E, and K, and minerals, including potassium, magnesium, iron, and manganese. A stalk of chard a day’ll keep the doctor away!

Fennel can be the main attraction in any course of a meal. It can be sweet, savory, hearty or light. In this dish it acts as a quick and simple compliment to an entree of your choosing.

INGREDIENTS

2 hearts of fennel

1 sprig of rosemary, minced

2 shallots, sliced into thin discs

1 clove of garlic, minced

goats cheese, as desired

1/2 cup dry white wine

Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

MASTER CHEF IT:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Bring a medium pot of water to boil with a pinch of salt.

Cut the white ‘heart’ of the fennel from the greens. Cut the butt of the heart off and discard. Slice the rest of the fennel into discs, cutting horizontally. Add the discs into the boiling water until tender, about 10 minutes.

Lightly coat the bottom of a baking dish with olive oil or butter. Sprinkle rosemary, garlic, and shallots on the dish.

Drain the fennel and arrange on the baking dish evenly.

Pour the white wine over the fennel and season with salt and pepper.

Bake the fennel uncovered for 30 minutes. Remove the dish and sprinkle fennel with crumbled goat cheese. Turn the oven to broil. Place the dish back in the oven and broil until the goat cheese is melted.

The greens of the fennel can be used to garnish the salad and/or saved for anther recipe. * The fennel can be served as is or tossed with lettuce and a light vinaigrette dressing.

FOOD FACT: The odor of fennel is very displeasing to many insects, putting it at little risk of being munched on. This means that the heavy use of chemical insecticide on fennel on conventional farms is not only harmful to human and environmental health, it is unnecessary.

We’re getting experimental this week with a less know ingredient called Purslane. Purslane is a succulent, weedy looking plant with a mild sweet and sour flavor. Its easily tossed into a number of vegetable recipes and salads. Follow this recipe for a healthy and satisfying use of this ingredient.

*Get creative with your favorite spices, add a pinch of each until you’ve created a recipe to your taste

GET COOKIN’

Add oil to a deep skillet, leaving head room at the top. Begin heating over medium heat until temperature reaches ~350 degrees F. *If you do not have a thermometer to test the temperature, drop in a 1″cube of light bread. The temperature is right when the bread browns in 60 seconds.

Dry tomatoes of any water and season on both sides with salt and pepper.

Fairview Gardens is kicking off summer 2012 with some delicious recipe ideas for your fresh CSA ingredients. Let’s get things rolling with a little spice!

TOFU AND BELL PEPPER TACOS

INGREDIENTS

1.5 ounces achiote “brick” paste (aka annatto)

1/2 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons Tapatio or other hot sauce

1 teaspoon salt

10 ounces extra firm tofu cut into 1/3″ slabs and patted dry

1 cup of summer squash, cut into 1/3″ slabs

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

3 bell peppers of varying colors, cut into strips

corn tortillas

*Achiote can be found at most major grocery stores, also check local Mexican markets

CREATING A MASTERPIECE

In a small bowl, break up the achiote with a fork and mash in the oil, a little at a time until it dissolves. Mix in the cumin, hot sauce and salt.

Heat up a grill or grill pan to a medium flame. Brush the tofu with the achiote oil on one side and grill until well marked. Brush the other side, flip, and grill. Repeat with the zucchini. Allow both to cool and then cut into 1/3″ dice.

Heat up a frying pan over a medium-high flame. Add 2 tablespoons of the achiote oil. Saute the onion, garlic and bell peppers until very soft.

Add the tofu and summer squash to the pepper mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning. It may need more salt, or a little lime or lemon juice, or more chile heat.

Wrap the tortillas in a damp, clean dish towel and microwave for about 3 minutes until soft and warm.

To eat, lay down two tortillas. Top with a moderate scoop of the filling, a spoonfull of guacamole and your favorite salsa. Devour!

Our 2012 CSA sign up is open. We are slimming down to Thursday Farm Pick up and Thursday Wheelhouse Drop Off, only. When signing up, please make sure you select the payment plan with the season you wish to sign up for. Its a little confusing, so do email me if you have questions. julie@fairviewgardens.org

It will be an amazing year as we are now starting to harvest, Cauliflower, Cabbage and Broccoli is coming soon. We have ordered our Potato, Peppers and Tomato seeds among other vegetables and it’s going to be of high quality and of much more variety.

Sign up before December 18th for the FULL YEAR, PAY IN FULL and save $100. Here is the link:

On another note, managing all of our marketing outlet are a difficult task for a busy farm. It has been a tricky task to post every week here!

From now on, we will do our weekly post on Monday on our Facebook Page ONLY. Moving away of using this WordPress. The big advantage for you is that you will therefore get many different update on what’s going on at the Farm and also news on current and future Events.

If you do like to have update on what’s coming, tune in around 3pm on our Facebook each Monday!

Thank to all of our CSA members that took the time to answer our survey’s. We really appreciate the feedback.

I am not the best with spelling. The thing is that I am actually an immigrant. Permanant Resident non the less… But here is my story and how I came to Santa Barbara.

My name is Julie Beaumont, I am a French Canadian, aka Quebecoise from Montreal. I travelled to Europe in 2001. In Paris, I meet a men that I felt in love with. He brought me back here! He is native to Goleta. Chris Potter (www.chrispotterart.com). When I got my work permit in 2005, I started at Fairview Gardens. I then got pregnant and had to leave to care for myself and regularly lifting 50lbs was out of question. I recall Michael Ableman asking if I wanted a pay increase;) I told him that I would be back! And here I am back after 5 years, 2 kids (now 3 and 5), AND 5 years of working for Earthtrine farms at the Farmers Market. I am very happy to share the love of Fairview and of Local Food.

I learned English, when I was 19 years old. I lack knowledge on grammar and structuring sentences (maybe because I think backward compare to English. ahhaah.) Anyhow., I hope my lack of English is not bothering too many people. I understand. But I do really care about doing the best I can.

At this point, waiting for someone to correct my writting is not a possibility. We need things done! And that’s what I do. But if someone has time to reply promptly and feel that they could help me: email julie@fairviewgardens.org

Unfortunatly, our Fall Harvest Festival is cancelled due to heavy rain predictions. OH! Thanks to our intern GRAY for all her hard work planning it. It was going to be epic. Hope she can come back next year and make it happen then!